The Face in the Crowd
by pyrofreeze
Summary: A face on the television makes Roxas pause: A “Next Life” one shot.


_The Face in the Crowd_

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"Oy, Roxas! Can we switch the channel already? The news is _boring_, and my show is on!"

Roxas rolled his eyes at his twin brother and smirked. "You'll survive, I'm sure. And besides, knowing what's going on is important."

Sora, Roxas's brother, pouted rather adorably, but such looks had ceased to win Roxas's pity a long time ago. After several moments of begging, the brunette accepted defeat, and flopped himself down on the couch next to his blonde brother with a loud sigh. "Fine; you win this time, but after this is over I get to watch my toons."

"Very well." Roxas conceded, watching the weatherman cheerfully point at a map and talk about the week's forecast.

"_…so be on the lookout for rain over the weekend folks! Back to you Bob…_" and the cameraman panned over to he station's oldest and gruffest looking anchormen who seemed to be forever glaring at his audience. "_Thank you Carl. And in other news, there was a fire down in the old sector of town in the new apartment complex. Authorities say that most of the families are unharmed, but that a handful of people suffered minor burn injuries. We have Ms. Nicky on the scene right now with the details; Nicky?_"

"_Hi Bob_." The newswoman chirped cheerfully—a far too chipper attitude for someone reporting the story on a fire, Roxas thought—"_I'm Nicky Elridge, and I'm here at the new Twilight Complex…_" Around her, Roxas could see a young couple standing in the background, sneaking into view and waving discreetly at the camera. "_…the authorities haven't caught the culprit behind fire, and but have ruled out that the incident was an accident…_" To the reporter's right a little blonde girl was waving frantically at the camera, and a man in a business suit was eyeing the camera with indifference, "_…the police are confident however that they _will_ find the perpetrator…_" And then Roxas's eyes froze on one face in the crowd that was watching the camera with not excitement, nor indifference, but a certain _smugness_: a boy with hair too red to be natural, attire that just screamed "rebel", and two diamond shaped tattoos on his cheeks…

…And then Roxas felt his breath catch in his throat, and his heartbeat speed faster. The boy's eyes; those haunting green eyes…The eyes made him stop. Made him think, and wonder why it felt as though he'd seen those eyes, _known_ those eyes before though he was _sure _the boy was a complete stranger…

"Hey, Rox?" Roxas jerked in surprise and looked towards his brother with wide eyes. Sora eyed him curiously with a concerned frown. "…Are you o.k.?"

"…Uh, yeah…I'm fine." Roxas assured him, "Just fine." And then he turned back towards the television only to find that the boy was gone, and that they'd moved onto a story about some local charity event. With a sigh, the blonde tossed the remote to his brother. "I'm done watching the news. You can watch your cartoons now if you like."

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed, pumping his fists in the air and flipping the channel while Roxas slunk off to his room, green eye following him with every step.

"Why…?" Roxas wondered quietly, throwing himself onto his mattress, "Why are those eyes… so familiar…?"

He'd never seen those eyes before. He was _sure _he hadn't seen those eyes before. But something was telling him that those eyes were important; that the _boy _was important.

"…But if it was important, I would have remembered it…right?" Roxas reasoned. And though his heart wasn't exactly satisfied with this explanation, Roxas refused to let himself think on it any longer. So with a sigh, a heavy heart, and a mind that was trying so very hard to remember something that Roxas had never known, the blonde shoved aside thoughts of green eyes and set to work on his homework.

Because what was the point of thinking about green eyes and a boy he had never met, and was never likely to meet?

"_Let meet again in the next life."_

"_Yeah, I'll be waiting."_

The boy was nobody important, so it was o.k. to forget…right?

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A/N: Reviews, as always, are loved and appreciated. :D 


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